Be right back

Skip week. Will be back eventually.

What a week!

Hello Hello Hello.

I finally have something exciting to blog about. It has been a few days since Sarah and I got back from a fabulous trip to the Okanagan Valley, but now I finally have time to post.

We left Sunday morning and drove to Osoyoos, which is at the southern tip of the Okanagan Valley. A pit stop to use the washrooms at Manning Park was made special by meeting Manny the Prairie Dog (Sarah named him after the park) and his friends.

We stayed at the Nk'Mip (in-ka-meep) Spirit Ridge Resort and Vineyard. It was by far the nicest place to stay in all of the Okanagan Valley. We had a one bedroom suite with a full kitchen and balcony, on the third floor overlooking the vineyard and Lake Osoyoos. The suite was great, and it was nice to have a homey feeling place to stay rather than some sterile hotel room.

On Monday we slept in later than planned, but since we were on vacation it was no problem. We drove north from Osoyoos and visited some wineries near Summerland, Okanagan Falls, and Oliver. By far our favorite was the Dirty Laundry Vineyard. They had great wine and a gorgeous winery tucked away in the hills outside of Summerland. We had a pleasant surprise of stumbling upon the Summerland Sweets Orchard, where they make some of the best jams and fruit syrups in the world. The real treat was finding out they also have a fruit winery known as Sleeping Giant (named after a local mountain peak).

On Tuesday we made the long trek north to see the Gray Monk Estate Winery. Sarah and I have always enjoyed Gray Monk wines, so they were a must see destination for us. The trip took longer than planned due to the slow traffic through Kelowna. So we skipped some vineyards on our list. We made sure to see a few of the vineyards that Sarah's colleague Craig recommended. The "must see" on Craig's list (ha ha) was definitely worth seeing. Rollingdale Winery was a simple winery housed in a Quonset hut with a dirt road for a driveway. By far the lowest scale of production we had seen. But they had the most amazing organic wines that they generously shared with us. It was also one of the least busy tasting rooms we visited so the tasting with the host was very personal. They were one of the most expensive places we saw, but totally worth the cost per bottle. We will surely be back the next time we tour the Okanagan.

On our way back south we stopped for dinner at The Gasthaus On The Lake in Peachland. It was a very authentic German restaurant that is right on the waterfront. The food was awesome. I highly recommend the pretzel for an appy with a mug of their house lager.

Due to our oversleeping and the long drive north and back, which was full of non-stop spectacular views, we had to fore go visiting some of the wineries we had planned on seeing. But that is fine because we will surely be returning next year.

Stuff happened

The past week was good. So good I will use point form again. (I like the point form)

-Paid for the Trabin on the Sunshine Coast. (trailer-cabin)

-Took the car in for an oil change. (80,000 km beotches!)

-Out with the old boss, in with the new. (Bye Bye Rose)

-Moved into our new office. (Mmmmmm paint fumes)

-Getting ready for our trip to wine country. (Watched "Sideways" 6 times)

-Didn't make the top 20 for the Peak Performance Project. (Bands you can already hear on the radio deserve the chance to make it on the radio more than we do)

I know point form is lazy. I never claimed to be not lazy.

Weakly Update

It has been a pretty slow week. I am going to write the bulk of this post in point form.

-Sarah got a new wedding dress.

-I have a new boss. (This is a good thing)

-My left big toe hurts. (I think I have gout)

-I rekindled my love for Advance Wars Dual Strike on the DS.

-I got to hang out and play video games with Alex and Chris. (it has been far too long)

-I had a bratwurst sausage moment. (F%#@ it was good)

That just about wraps up another week.

A day late?

Well I said I would post weekly. 

The highlight of the past week would have to be when Chris, Ryan, and I went north of Squamish and found the site for my bachelor party camping trip. It's sweet. Lots of room to goof around and it's not in a provincial park, so we can be as loud and obnoxious as we want. It will be a blast.

On Thursday, Ryan, Geoff, and I did an acoustic rehearsal in the park near Ryan's place. We were just playing on a park bench in the evening when a couple of guys came over to listen. They liked us so much they went and got us beer! It was great to gain some new fans.

See you next week!

Well it works for TV shows

I think this is going to be a weekly thing for a while. I will post more if I feel up to it, but I'm not promising anything.

So since my last post the biggest news would be that Sarah and I are now part owners of a cabin on the Sunshine Coast. I went up there on Monday to check it out. It is a bit of a fixer-upper but it was a great deal. And now we have a nice place to get away to pretty much any time we want. It's in a trailer "resort" in a small town called Madeira Park. It is a cute little town with all the amenities you could need on a vacation, including a liquor store. The area really reminds me of the town Mamere lived in that I would visit every summer when I was growing up. I hope some day I can get a boat to put in the water up there.

Other than that, it was a normal week. We had dinner with the family on Sunday to celebrate the latest batch of birthdays. I figured out how to record my bass directly onto my computer, so once I get the editing part figured out I will start posting stuff to be heard. 

So it shouldn't be too hard to post weekly, and if I feel inspired, I will post sooner.

Finally

So I am finally posting. It has been too long and I feel bad for neglecting my blog, even though no one reads it (except you Michelle).

Lets see...

I guess the most interesting things since my last post were attending a good friend's wedding, and seeing Fleetwood Mac live. 

Sarah's best friend, and her Maid of Honour, Janna got married to Travis Deglow on Saturday, May 16th. It was a wonderful wedding. The ceremony was at a nice church in New Westminster. It was a touching ceremony (and short!) followed by a group photo of the wedding party and all the guests outside of the church.

The reception was at a fancy hotel in down town Vancouver called The Marriot Renaissance. It was great. The food was really good. I had one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. The dancing was fun and Janna and Travis put a lot of thought into the decor and favors. It was an awesome wedding. 

Sarah and I decided to stay in a fancy hotel across the street that night. It was a Marriot as well, called The Pinnacle. It was very nice and had a good view of the Burrard Inlet and the North Shore. 

Seeing Fleetwood Mac live can be summed up in two words. Mind blowing! 

Music is my religion, and seeing them live was a holy experience. It was a real pleasure seeing them live. 

So that is about it. I could go on about less exciting things, but I have a feeling that my next bunch of posts will be more day to day type stuff so I will refrain this time.

I am slipping into bad habits again

Still no substantial post. Tisk Tisk Tisk.

I am bad, scratch that...

I am lazy.

Please stand by

I have not been very prolific with my blog lately. It has been a busy weekend. I will post soon with my latest adventures. But right now I am tired and busy. Sorry for the delays.

Alex Turned 28 and all he got was a hangover.

On Saturday a bunch of us got together with Alex to celebrate his 28th birthday by killing a few hundred thousand brain cells. It was a fun affair at the Rivers Reach Pub in New Westminster. A very fine establishment with a warm and friendly atmosphere. Plus more flat screen TVs than you can shake a hockey stick at. We ate good pub grub and watched a disappointing second round playoff game between the Canucks and the Blackhawks. Despite the home team loss, every one had a great time. I haven't seen Alex that shittered in years. His better half Rebecca made him the perfect cake (see photo). It was good to see everyone come out and wish Al a happy birthday.

Function for the Junktion

Sarah and her work colleagues asked me and the band to put together a song for their departing boss Jerry. He is a huge fan of Flight of the Conchords so they asked us to record a spoof of their song "Bowie" with new lyrics written to reflect his departure and how much they will miss him. I ran it by Ryan and Geoff, and they were on board. Unfortunately due to busy schedules and a looming deadline, we had to do it without Geoff. Ryan, Del, and I tried to give it a professional polish by tracking each part and mixing it in Pro-Tools the way we have been recording our songs lately. This proved to be very difficult since we had never played the song before and we were not using the original lyrics. So after too much time and frustration we gave up on the pro method. Ryan and I met at my house the following afternoon and decided to record it the old school way. Well as old school as possible. We used my laptop and it's built in mic to capture a live recording. Ryan and I rehearsed the song until it felt good, then recorded it in one take.

It turned out great. the sound quality is much better than I expected. Sarah and her colleagues were extremely happy with the results. And Ryan and I had fun putting it together. 

So to listen to our version of "Jerry" just pop over to http://www.myspace.com/silosix and press play on the music player. The lyrics are all inside jokes, but at least it's good for a laugh to hear us being silly. Oh, and sorry that our myspace page isn't very exciting right now. We have not spent much time on developing it yet. There are some pics. And as soon as our original tracks are finished we will make it a better site. But for now, enjoy. 

Gonna Be A Rock Star!

We (Silo Six) have finished laying down the raw tracks for our demo album! All that needs to be done now is to do the final mix and away we go. I am looking forward to having something to pass around to all our friends and family. And hopefully it will land us some paying gigs! Next stop, Rock Stars!

Sunny days are here again

Mother Nature has been working overtime to make up for such a shitty start to spring. I love all this sunshine. On Monday, Chris and I went fishing. We didn't catch anything, but there is no such thing as a bad day of fishing. We tried out Rice Lake on the north shore. They had just stocked it a few days before we went, so the fish were probably still shocked from the move because none of them were biting. We ended up going for fish and chips at a nearby seafood shop, and brought home some fresh halibut burgers to cook up for dinner. So we did end up eating fish. That sorta counts. Right?

Down Time

I decided to take a couple of days off from my cyber activities. I was too tired to come up with much and the thought of typing more than a couple of sentences was too much to bear. I know, I know, typing is such hard work. But really. I had some long days, late nights and early mornings.

So as I said in the earlier post, I went to Bowen Island with my team mates on Tuesday. It was a "team building" day. We took the ferry over in the late morning. Then walked around a beautiful small lake. And finished off at the pub near the ferry landing. 

I took a bunch of pictures, got a mild sun burn, and drank free beer. It was great. My coworker Matt and I got separated from the group while walking around the lake. They all powered on while we took our time to enjoy the surroundings and take some pictures. I like my coworkers, and was not trying to avoid them, but it was nice to hang back with Matt and take in all the nature. The group thought we were lost and phoned us a couple of times to make sure we were alive. Matt and I laughed though when we caught up with some of them at a cross point on the trail and discovered that they had all taken a wrong turn and ended up taking the long route back to town. 

We had lunch and drinks on the patio at the local pub. The view from the patio was nice and I stuffed myself with chicken wings and beer. I didn't get shitfaced because I knew I would have to drive later, but I did get a buzz on. The whole group played a couple of rounds of Scattergories, which was good for some laughs. Matt, Dinah, Sarah, and I stayed to play more Scattergories and drink more beer while the rest of our team left to catch the four o'clock ferry. 

Such a great day. And the sweetest part was that I was getting paid to be there.

Here's a link to the rest of my pics.

Lazy Bastard

Once again I am too tired to write a lengthy blog. Yesterday we went to Bowen Island. Long story short, we had a great day. I got a mild sunburn. My boss paid for drinks. 

Tired

I had a busy day. I am tired and I don't have the energy to post much. I will post tomorrow regarding the trip to Bowen Island My team mates and I took today. Here is a sample pic from our trip.

Blah

I am battling a severe  case of apathy today. I feel like doing something creative/productive but I can not muster the energy to do more than wander throughout the house. I can think of a dozen different projects I could be working on, but using my brain beyond that is too much work. I don't want to waste my day, but unless I break through this apathy towards everything, this blog post may be the most productive thing I do.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.

Mass Murder Averted

Today we went shopping in North Van. We often go to Park Royal because it has the stores we like and there are less people. The mall today was fine, but since I was out late last night, my energy levels were low to begin with. I ended up taking a nap in the car while everyone else continued their shopping. I did score a cool pair of sandals for this summer (Yay cool feet).

But then came Wal-Mart.

I am a very patient person, but when I'm tired and hungry, watch out.

Lucky for most, I express frustration through humor. For example: While we were circling the parking lot in search for a spot, some jackass behind me honked because I failed to mow down pedestrians. I responded by driving even slower, letting two other cars turn, and when he tried to pass me I blocked him and drove ahead. Everyone in our car was laughing while I could see Mr. Impatient fuming in my rear view mirror. Honk at me in a busy paring lot? Jackass.

Wal-Mart was a zoo as usual inside. Chris and I were not looking for anything in particular, so we decided to wander while Sarah and Justine shopped. We just wandered aimlessly and looked at stuff. I like stuff. We drooled over some large flat screen TVs (clean up in electronics).

I finally succumbed to my hunger and stopped in the McDonald's for a snack. Big mistake.

I find that most McDonald's employees are sufficiently competent, and I know how shitty it is to work an entry level job for minimum wage. So I am often forgiving or at least I don't set my expectations too high. But the woman that took my order was about as useful and intelligent as a bag of hair. I can't even describe how she screwed up, because it didn't make any sense. All I could say to her was "standing there with your hand in the air is probably not going to work". All I had ordered was one of the new Mac Snack Wraps. This is probably not the best name to give a new item when a large percentage of your employees have a limited grasp on English as it is. For such a simple order, it took forever. Then when I sat down to eat it, I discovered that they had gave me a grilled chicken wrap by mistake. Simple mistake I guess, because both items have the word wrap. I was too pissed to even deal with it and ate the chicken wrap anyway.

We wandered Wal-Mart for a while longer, and reunited with Sarah and Justine. As we approached the checkout hell I had reached my limit and just left for the car. I had the feeling that if I had waited in the checkout queue I would very likely kill an inept Wal-mart employee or two, and several innocent bystanders in the aftermath. 

The peace and tranquility of my car was instantly soothing. I waited patiently for Sarah, Justine and Chris to make their way through the checkout, drove over to the exit to pick them up with their purchases, and happily headed home for the day.

Gee, that sure looks like a.....

I often lament to myself that I rarely have things happen throughout my day that I can post about. Mainly it's due to the fact that I'm not allowed to talk about the kids I work with due to strict confidentiality laws. And since a large part of my day is spent working, that leaves less time in which post worthy things can happen.

But something happened today that was to hilarious not to share. And leaving the kid's name out will not detract from the story what so ever. Therefore it won't break the confidentiality laws.

Oh and for those of you that don't know, I am a Youth Support Worker. I spend one to one time with foster kids doing various activities and helping the youth achieve goals.

So today I was out with one of the boys I work with. We had a bit of time to kill and it was a beautiful day so we decided to go for a walk. I can't say exactly what town we were in (rules) but lets just say it is part of the Tri-Cities. So we were walking along a suburban neighbourhood street, just talking about stuff, when I noticed something in the gutter just ahead of us. At first I thought it was one of those things that when viewed from an angle looked like something else but when you get a closer look it turns out to be trash. And my first thought was so absurd that I hoped it was trash. But as we got closer it didn't transform when viewed from a different angle. It became clear that it was in fact what I thought it looked like.

I stopped dead in my tracks and started laughing. The kid I was with hadn't noticed it and turned to see what I was laughing about. He is a 15 year old boy that is well aware of the world around him, so he knew what it was right away, and started laughing as well.

Sitting in the gutter on a quiet suburban street was a two foot long, black, double ended DILDO.

Can I trade it in for a new model?

I am sore. My joints hurt. My muscles ache. I am falling apart.

All because I was a little more active the last couple of days than I have been in a while. 

I hate getting older. 

Yes, I know I'm not that old in the big picture. But if this is what it's like now.....Gaahh!

I should start saving for a motorized chair now, so when I need one I can get the deluxe model.

Do do do doot do do do dooooo

 My last few posts have been long ones.

Today's post will not.

That is all. 

Is that laptop breathing?

I have always been a fan of computers and the wonderful things you can do with them. And when the Internet became a household figure like the TV and telephone I was really excited. I have always had a knack for using things with buttons. What surprised me though was my lack of drive to become a computer addict. I spent all of my teen years without my own computer. I would often dream of the system I would one day own. The first computer that I had was given to Sarah and I when we moved into our first apartment. I took to it well, and had a lot of fun with it, but I never did much more than surf the net, download MP3s and play a few games. I found that I would grow bored very quickly, so I never developed as anything more than a casual user. It stayed that way for many years. I could never afford much in the way of upgrades, but I did manage to keep our original PC running smoothly for over 6 years. In fact it still works, but it currently gathers dust in my basement. I purchased a new PC a few years ago. It was pretty fast, but I didn't shell out the big bucks for a state of the art machine. It did have an LCD screen, and a DVD burner. Those were huge upgrades from my old beast. So with that I increased from casual user to casual pirate. I didn't go so far to make copies and sell stuff. I just found ways to have games and movies for next to nothing. Once again I found myself barely scratching the surface of what was possible with a decent PC. I did dabble in more activities, such as DVD burning, and digital art. I even got a cool stylus so I could draw using photoshop and illustrator. But once again my short attention span got the better of me. The programs were too complex to just sit down and draw they way I can with pencils and paper without taking the time to learn all the functions. I have tons of resources and tutorials. I plan to get to them one day.

Then one day our PC got a nasty virus that I could not remove. The only solution is to back up data files and then format the hard drive and reinstall the OS. My problem was that I don't have an external hard drive, and burning 150 gigs of data to DVD is far to time consuming. Since the virus only targets online activities, and Sarah had a nice new laptop to surf the net, I gave up on fixing the PC and was content on minimizing my usage. That was the way it stayed for quite some time. 

Then I got my own laptop.

It changed everything. I now have a blog. I keep up to date on my email and facebook page. I am using twitter, and RSS feeds. I log into the remote desktop for my office to log case files. I am finding new things to do with my laptop almost every day. I even take it with me when I leave the house. I am quickly becoming the computer addict I had always envisioned as a youth. Soon I will be loading Adobe CS3 into it so I can finally start making the digital art I have always wanted to create. I am even beginning to use the built in web cam. I am becoming so attached to this laptop, that I have to remind myself that I can remember a life without it. I am sure that I will find a happy balance between being a computer geek and a functioning member of society. As long as can stay off War Craft.

As the world turns

I am starting a new project. It is not an original Idea, but one I have wanted to do for some time. The reason I started it today is due to my freshly shorn face. I have sported a full, and often bushy, beard for the last couple of years. I like having a beard (most of the time) and will be regrowing it. I started fresh today because I wanted an official playoff beard. I am what you would call a part-time hockey fan. I don't watch games religiously, but I do keep a finger to the pulse of our local team (more now than ever due to Chris and Justine). I feel that I am more than a band wagon jumper. I don't just watch the playoffs. So now that the Canucks are done regular season play and are entering the playoffs, I wanted to start a brand new playoff beard.

So the fresh face has prompted me to start a daily photo log that I will string together after I feel enough time has passed. Like I said, it has been done, many times. And now I want to do it too. 

This is the starting point.

April 13th, 2009. 

I am looking forward to seeing my beard grow in time lapse. Once I feel enough time has passed, I will make a video and post it for all to see. And with the frequency that I get my hair cut, it will be amusing to see it grow as well.

Stay tuned.

Comicon Part Two

Part Two

The convention was amazing, despite the long and bewildering line to get in. It was a lot bigger than last year. I was surprised that the lines to meet the artists were not very long at all. I guess there was more than enough to keep people busy. I did see some huge lines for things that I had no interest in, such as the media celebrities. I sorry, but Will Wheaton is barely a celebrity, let alone one I would wait in line to meet. Ray park was there. He is pretty cool, but again, not someone I would wait in line to meet. Besides, what would I say to Ray Park? Uhh..You were awesome as (insert role here). 

I had done my homework on the official site for the comicon. Or at least I thought I had. I knew that Frank Cho would be there. He is one of my biggest idols, and by far one of the best comic illustrators I have ever seen. It was great to finally meet him, but a little disappointing overall. He was friendly, but not very engaging. There was not a huge line to see him, so I was kind of expecting to get to chat for a few minutes. All I got was a smile and hello, he signed the books I brought, and then I shook his hand. That was all. He didn't even ask my name. Like I said, it was great to meet him. I guess I was expecting more from an Idol.

Now Ben Templesmith was more than I expected. He was one of the few artists I specifically wanted to see. I brought my copy of the first issue of Fell for him to sign. 

Meeting Ben Templesmith was awesome. He was funny and engaging. He asked my name and personalized the signature he gave me. He made me feel appreciated as a fan. He cracked a joke about only having to sign one book instead of the usual stacks that most people bring. It restored my faith as a fanboy. Chris was there with me as well, and Ben drew a quick sketch with his signature. Such a great guy.

I had read the list of artists on the website, but I guess I had missed some names because while we were wandering around the artist alley, I found David Petersen. He is the creator of one of my favorite independent comics.  

Mouse Guard is an amazing fantasy tale about an elite group of mouse warriors. It looks cute at first glance, but it is a deep and gritty story. I was so happy to meet David, and get signed copies of his latest story arc. He was happy to meet a fan, and was pleased to hear that I found his work inspiring. I even got a couple of buttons for my collection. It was a pleasant surprise to meet him.

The other surprise encounter I had was with Dave Kellet. I had met Dave briefly at last year's comicon. He was handing out promotional fliers for his web comic Sheldon. I was taking fliers all day last year, so I didn't give it more than a cursory glance at first. I read the sample strips during the ride home and found them hilarious. That evening I went to the website and instantly fell in love with the characters.  So to see him again this year was much different than our last encounter. This time it was as a true fan. I watched as he sketched a hilarious cartoon of a Borg with a pot belly for a kid and his brother. Then I got to introduce myself and tell him how much I loved his comics. He was very happy to hear that I discovered his work at last year's convention. When I told him that the US postal service owed him a set of buttons he remembered me from the order I had placed last year for a set of Sheldon buttons that he had to re-send after the first set didn't arrive. Dave was selling copies of his books, so I picked up the one I really wanted.

He captures the humor of the breed perfectly. I told him about the two pugs we had when I was a kid. Then Dave sketched and signed a picture of Oso the Pug in the inside of my copy. It was the highlight of my day.  

Sorry for the delay

Part One

Chris, Ryan, Theressa and I went to the 2009 Emerald City Comicon on Saturday. We had the most incredible day. We left Vancouver at 7:00am and headed for the border. We waited in line at the border for almost an hour, despite road signs that stated a 15 to 20 minute wait. That turned out to be one of only two hiccups in our otherwise amazing day. 

None of us had eaten breakfast, and I have a bit of a ritual of stopping at Jack-in-the-box whenever I go to the States. The closest Jack-in-the-box to the border that I knew of was in Bellingham, which is not too far. But I was very happy to find out that they opened a new one just before Blaine. It was only 5 minutes south of the border! That is a dangerous notion considering that my friends and I often get cravings for Jack-in-the-box. And I can drive from my house to the border in about 30 to 40 minutes if traffic is light. My mouth says Yay! My heart screams NO!!! 

So after a grease filled meat and cheese fest, we headed for Seattle. Ryan, Chris and I had great conversations about music and stuff, while Theressa napped the whole way down. We reached Seattle around 10:30am, quickly found a sweet (but creepy) parking spot in the garage under the convention centre, and entered the convention centre where we discovered the most bizarre social experiment I have ever encountered. And I am not talking about the comicon itself. I am speaking of the line to get into the comicon. It was enormous. But the thing that made it strange, was the way they made everyone queue up. The line started in a hall way, then we emerged into a huge glass foyer that overlooked Pike street. The line proceeded to zig-zag back and forth across the whole floor, much like the queue for a roller-coaster. What made it really weird was the lack of dividers. No ropes or queue markers, like at the bank. Just people doing this strange zig-zag shuffle from one end if the room to the other. Slowly progressing line by line across the foyer. It was hilarious. And as expected in a room full of hundreds of nerds, there were witty comments and jokes abound. One guy was miming a glass wall between his line and ours. Others were saying hello to people they passed almost a dozen times. I was bleating like a sheep. Then we made it to the door way that was visible the whole time. At last, an end to this strange dance of dorks...WHAT!? Another room! Yup, two rooms of the zig-zag shuffle. I was surprised that there wasn't a mad dash to the ticket booths. Then I remembered who they were dealing with. These folks were about as likely to riot as they were to win a beauty contest. That being said, you would not want to cut in line. Hell hath no furry like a fan boy scorn.

The line up was strange, but it was a good chance to people watch. There were a lot of humorous costumes, and a myriad of dorks, geeks and losers that made us feel better about ourselves. I know, I know. I was attending the con too. And I will not deny that I am a dork. But come on!

Nerd Fest!!

My friends and I are going to the 2009 Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle tomorrow!!

That is all.

Is it spring yet?

It's the first of April, and it seems that Mother Nature is the real prankster. I woke up this morning to a cold, grey day with rather white looking rain falling...SNOW! It was snowing! Snow! In Vancouver! In April! WTF!!!!

I wouldn't be surprised if I was waking up in Ontario. In fact, I can remember several Easter mornings with more than an inch of snow on the ground. But Vancouver! At least it wasn't sticking to the ground.

I have been on the beach, sunning in shorts and no shirt (sorry for the image) in March. Spring is supposed to start in March here. Not May. 

Snow. Bah.

We are still here!

I had heard a rumor that there was a big scary computer virus that was supposed to cripple the Internet on April 1st. I didn't really look into it to see if it was a real threat or just another prank. April fools day after all. So I just waited to see if the world wide web would come crumbling down around us. I was kinda looking forward to it. Don't get me wrong, I love the Internet and all it has allowed our society to do. It is a very powerful tool and does get put to good use. But it also gets put to use by every aspect of society, which leads to things like sites dedicated to the mundane, the bizarre, and the down right disgusting, and things like widespread devastating computer viruses. So I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen to our society if the web did grind to a halt. Would there be mass chaos and rioting in the streets. Or would we simply revert back to how we did things in the early 90's, before the Internet was a staple in our lives. What would all those losers living in their mother's basement do? My guess is that they would continue their disturbing past times. But they would remain in their dark, musty basements, where they belong. We would also see the end of mindless posts on Facebook and Twitter, or whatever the "social" network flavour of the month is. And let us quickly forget that anyone can create a Blog about the banal existence they call a life. Constantly posting about what they ate for dinner, which movies they saw, and how they are frustrated that all they can post about is that all they post about is not having anything to post.

When in doubt...pout

I wanted to post something good today. But I am drawing a blank. I don't want all my posts to be me complaining about not having anything to post about. So today I am posting about how I feel like pouting that all I can blog about is not having anything to blog about.                                                      

*sigh*

I have been a bad blogger. I really want to post daily or as close as possible, but I have not posted in days. I have been on vacation. And you would think with all free time that I would be able to come up with more to blog about.  

"Jeez, How many gazebos do you She-Males need?"

Lazy Day

Today was a productive/lazy day. I slept waaaaay longer then I had expected. You know those days where you half wake up at the desired time but since there is no great urgency to get out of bed, you doze off only to wake up two hours later. I wanted to get up around 10:00am (I love being on vacation), but I wound up getting out of bed at 12:30pm. I had stuff to do today (I didn't finish the recycling project from yesterday) so the extra two hours of sleep kinda cut into that time. I did get quite a bit accomplished and I am pretty much back on schedule for my week of down time. The rest of my day was spent playing the new Pokemon Platinum for the Nintendo DS. Yes, I know it's a kid's game. But as anyone who knows me will agree, I am a little kid in an over sized body. Besides, Pokemon is a very successful game franchise for a reason. They are fun.

I also got a bit of extra pleasure from the fact that the game is not even being released for another week. Hee hee hee 

Cardboard

I have been stockpiling cardboard and other various recycling in the basement all winter because it's a muddy trek across our back yard. I ran out of room weeks ago for all this stuff but I was waiting till my vacation to take the time to deal with it all. Well now I'm on vacation.

Arghhhhhhh

There is so much cardboard, and I will have to collapse all of it to cram it in the car so I can take it to the recycle depot. 

Next time I'll get my shoes muddy.

It's been a while

I haven't posted in a while. Not much happening lately. I'm on vacation for 10 days! 

Oh! I had this awesome blog brought to my attention.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Hilarious.

Enjoy.

Pizza!

Last night we had a "make your own pizza"dinner. I had forgotten how much fun it is to dress up and bake your own mini pizza. We all had fun designing our custom pizzas and even more fun eating them. Our topping choices were varied. We used pita bread for crusts and had pizza sauce, pesto, mozzarella, pearl bocconcini, artichoke hearts, anchovies, pepperoni, capers, fresh garlic, red and yellow peppers, black olives, pineapple chunks, and fresh rosemary. We each made two pizzas and no two of them were alike.

We all eat together when we can (which is about once or twice a week) but this was a fun activity that made our dinner that much more special.

Well, it turns out all we DO need is love.

I just finished watching a film called Zeitgeist.

It has been around for a few years now and I seriously hope that it is becoming dated material.

I don't wanna get into specifics of what was said in this film. Mainly because there is a lot of information and I'm still processing it myself. But also because there are many significant conclusions that can and will be drawn from the information conveyed in this film and I prefer to let people come to conclusions on their own. 

What I will say is that Zeitgeist presents a strong case that should empower any free thinking intelligent person with the courage to live their life on their terms. 

We as a society are in danger of losing our freedom. And we will hand it over calmly and quietly as long as we stay afraid of the wool pulled over our eyes.

Watch this film. Please.

And if you can only muster one response to the information presented, I hope that it is empowerment of your courage to live YOUR LIFE. 

And I look forward to discussing the conclusions you come to.

You can find Zeitgeist for download very easily. 

Comming Soon!

We finally did it!

Silo Six has laid down the first tracks for our album. We got together (sans Juan-Claude unfortunately) at Del's place and recorded the scratch tracks for The Street.

They sounded great. We are on they way!!!!

As soon as we master the tracks I will post it!

Yaaaaayyyyyy!!

Uhhhh

Today was a pretty uneventful day. 

Our new kitty Scout is fitting in nicely. 

For dinner we had a pre-made shepherds pie from Costco. They are awesome. So delicious.

That is all

New Family Member!

We have a new member in the family.

Her name is Scout and she is our new kitty.

She is a shelter rescue that we met yesterday. After the adoption process, we were able to bring her home today.

She felt at home right away. And what a little rascal.

We all went out for dinner for Sarah's birthday. When we got home, we found that Scout had knocked down the bag of cat food and tore into it. She didn't make a mess, but there is no telling how much she ate. LOL. She has been bouncing around all evening since we got home, so I'm sure she didn't gorge herself.

Our last kitty Toots was older and more mellow. So it is very interesting to have a juvenile cat in the house.

Scout is very loving and has no fear. She is very active and loves to play with toys. She is also good at opening cupboard doors. She has already earned the nickname "ninja cat" because she is so small and makes no noise when she walks around.

We are all very happy to have Scout join our family.

It feels good to have a new critter running around. The house felt kinda empty without one.

Kitty Shopping

Today we all went down to the SPCA adoption centre!

We looked around at all the critters and furry friends. We got to meet all the cats that need homes. One really cute older kitten named Unagi was high on our list, but she was not available to adopt yet. So we looked around some more and found this beautiful girl.

Her shelter name is Miss Gladys. She is perfect. We love her.

So we filled out the adoption papers and answered some questions. We are now waiting for our landlord and the vet to verify our references. As soon as that clears, we can bring her home!

We are most definitely going to give her a new name. But we need her to be home first and get to know her better before we give her her new name.

Yay! New Kitty Family Member!

Happy birthday

Monday is Sarah's birthday!

We are going to look a kittens at the SPCA and pick a couple of them for her birthday!

Yay! 

Kittens!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU

More random albums

I love this game.

Here are my latest creations. Well, it is hard to take credit since the items are grabbed at random from the web. I guess you could say they are creations of the web. I wonder who came up with this game.

Still gonna be a rock star

Well, we didn't record tonight. But we did have a good band "meeting" tonight. Not all of us were there, but we covered some issues that each of us felt, and set up some plans to help us in the coming months. And Geoff (drummer) had some archives of previous recordings. Most of them are nowhere near the quality we want to release. But I am going to dig through them and see if there are any tracks that are blog worthy. 

Stay tuned.

Gonna be a ROCK STAR!!!

I am in a band. 

We are called Silo Six. 

Tonight we are going to try for the umpteenmillionth time to make a decent recording that we are willing to share with the world. 

We have attempted to self produce an album many times but we keep running into problems with quality and format, and lack of knowing what the hell we are doing. 

I have a good feeling about tonight though. Del is an educated recording engineer and now has all his gear up and running (Yay Del!). We can track quite a bit at his place. I'm not sure how we will do drums, but I am sure we will figure it out. I know that the common thing to do is put down a scratch track for the drummer to follow. Then we lay down proper tracks over the drum track. I guess we will set up a bunch of scratch tracks tonight and have Geoff (drummer extraordinaire) do the drum tracks at the studio we rent sometimes.

So here's hoping we will have some recordings we can use to launch our web site. Or at least post on my blog.

Random Album Game

I saw a friend of mine on Facebook playing this game where you create random albums by following a few steps. It's hilarious (thanks Michelle). 

Step one: Get a band name by clicking the random article link on wikipedia and using the article subject as the name. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

Step two: Get the album title from The Quotations page random quote link. Use the last 4 or 5 words in the last quote on the page.

http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

Step three: Go to Flickr and use the explore interesting last 7 days link.  Use the third photo (whatever it is) as the jacket art.

http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

Photoshop (or other editing prog) the title and band name onto the pic and.. TA DA!

 

This was my first attempt. Tons o' fun.

Try it!

Damn Environment

I spent most of today driving the company truck. It's a 2007 Chevy Silverado (not the one in the picture).

I forgot how much I love big trucks. My first vehicle was a 1987 Silverado. I have so many great memories of cruising around with my friends and doing stupid teenage things.

If it wasn't for the high gas prices, and the fact that believe in driving a vehicle that is suitable for your day to day needs, I would drive a big truck all the time.

Don't get me wrong. I love my car. It's a two door Hyundai accent. It gets great gas mileage and is suitable for all my needs. I feel good about driving a car that is economical and environmentally conscious.

But a BIG TRUCK!!!! 

It brings out the little knuckle dragging red neck in me. The power of a big V8. Sitting up high. Ahhhhhhhh.

Stupid carbon emissions.

Mall Cop

I saw this movie today.

It was great! It's not an incredible movie, but it was funny and the story made sense. They even threw a few twists in as well. 

I think it's theatre run is almost finished so it should be out on DVD before long. Definitely a good rental.

Guys night

With the girls gone for the night. Chris and I decided to host a guys night.

Large amounts of beer, meat, and testosterone. 

We had a great time. The guys and I jammed and we played video games.

Chris and I had made some bottles of mead a few months back, so we decided to use the guys as guinea pigs. It was well received and they guys got a kick out of the fact they were drinking an ancient booze. I liked that my first attempt at crafting alcohol turned out so well. Considering that we made the mead with a simple and cheap method Chris found online.

If this was real life I'd be dead

I rented a copy of Skate 2 by EA Black Box. It is the sequel to the best skateboard game ever since Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

Skate 2 is beautiful. The graphics and physics are spot on and the map is HUGE. The challenges are tough but somewhat based in reality. In fact the game seems so real that after a bad bail it feels like your virtual shredder will never walk again. They made bails part of the game by giving you challenges to mutilate your character as much as possible. 

The big addition to Skate 2 is the ability to get off your board. This adds a lot of potential to skate better lines and makes the map seem more like a real city because there are more curbs and stairs. The ability to leave your board is one of the few flaws in the game as well. It feels like all the amazing physics are abandoned as soon as you step off the board. Walking around feels very awkward. It would have been nice to have some camera control as well. I understand that camera control doesn't work while on your board because of the thumb stick controls. But when you stop and get off your board, it's a shame you can't look around at the well crafted city.

I have not tried the multiplayer yet, but I have heard good things from some of my friends. They said the use of Xbox Live is well done. You can party up with a bunch of friends and shred the city together like an old school 80's skate gang. Can't wait.

I have nothing to offer

Today was a pretty good day but since I'm not supposed to talk about work, specially online, I don't have a whole lot to say today. I don't want to post completely random musings all the time.

Oh what the hell.

I made miso soup today. I make a mean miso soup.

Ha Ha Ha Ha

I love South Park. Every time I see a new episode I think "I can't believe I just saw that". One hilarious absurd thing after another. Whenever I start to wonder how Matt and Trey could ever top them selves, they do it again. 

Case in point: Oprah's vagina "Minge" conspires with her ass "Gary" to get some attention and ends up shooting a cop and creating a hostage situation resulting in her ass getting shot and her vagina commits suicide out of sorrow.

Seriously. That is comedy.

MSG!!!!

Today I ate a delicious tuna sandwich at a cafe near my office. As I was eating it I though, mmmm this is a really good tuna sandwich. There was an interesting flavor I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then about an hour later I had a headache and was feeling flushed and overheated. I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was beet red. Then I remembered that my boss had eaten a tuna sandwich from the same cafe last week and the exact same thing happened to her. On my way home I called Sarah and told her what happened. She told me it was a reaction to MSG. That made perfect sense. Neither my boss or myself have any food allergies. And the sandwich didn't taste off in any way. And the MSG would account for the unique taste of the sandwich. 

I guess I had never eaten much MSG before. And I never will again. I feel like 50 lbs of shit in a 10lb bag. MSG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chubby Chicken!

I love Chubby Chicken! These tender strips of goodness always make me happy. I wish I had the secret to how they make them so juicy. 

That is all.

Game Addict

So one topic I will touch on frequently will be video games. 

I have played video games since my dad bought us an Atari video game system in 1980. I was two. 

The first game I remember was breakout. And my favorite game was River Raid. 

So short of my first two years, I have played video games my entire life. 

Much to my fiance's chagrin, I will always play video games. I have loved watching the evolution of games over the last 28 years. I look forward to the wonders of entertainment the future of gaming holds for us.

I am interesting. Really, I am.

I have struggled with the decision to start a blog and I guess if you are reading this you can guess what my decision was.

So now the problem I face is deciding just what to blog about. I figured that I will make it one of those everything under the sun, daily musing, and whatever random stuff I come up with.

So here we go. Hope you enjoy.